﻿8 BULLETIN 1350, V. S. DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTUEE 



and 7), and many of them have luxuriant growths of grasses and 

 herbaceous vegetation. Others have little or no plant life, but much 

 outcropping of bedrock. An island of the type last described is of 

 little value for fox raising, not only because of the lack of sufficient 

 shade but also because the denning ground is too limited. 



LOCATION AND SOIL 



The northward extension of island fur farms is limited by the 

 necessity for freedom from ice bridging to adjacent lands, either 

 by the channel freezing over or by drifting ice. It is for this reason 

 that island farms in Alaska are restricted mainly to the southern 

 coast line and the Aleutian Chain. The southward limit is governed 

 by the need for sufficient cold weather to produce good fur. Near 

 the mainland, where the winter temperatures average lower than at 



B24678 



Fig. 7. — General view of the top of Aghiyuk Island. There are no trees on the 

 island and, except in hollows, very little vegetation of any kind 



the outer coast, the southern limit will be farther south than in the 

 mild outer ocean belt. The mainland area has produced good blue- 

 fox skins as far south as Petersburg, and fur farms are being 

 started over 100 miles farther south. It is j)ossible that the island 

 blue-fox zone on the Pacific coast near the mainland may extend into 

 northern British Columbia. Along the outer coast, blue-fox farms 

 are being established as far south as Hydaburg, on the west coast of 

 Prince of Wales Island, although the winter climate in the section 

 is exceedingly mild. Fur farmers on the western islands of the 

 Aleutian Chain, which also have a mild climate, receive satisfactory 

 prices for blue-fox skins. 



Blue foxes can be successfully raised on any type of soil that is 

 well drained and affords suitable shade and denning grounds. It has 

 not been definitely determined whether certain types of soil are more 

 favorable than others to fox parasites; soils possessing an undue 

 amount of moisture, however, and densely shaded situations are 

 favorable to their development. The elements in the soil appear to 

 have no bearing on the quality of the fur produced. 



